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I have a female brb that I think is gravid. Assuming that she is, with the last obseved breeding on 1-16-03. Do I figure the gestation from the last breeding I saw? I am new to this and may have observed ovulation on 11-16 and/or 12-22. She ate 12-29 and again 1-10, and has refused all 7 to 10 day interval feedings since then. The male has been eating regularly sine 2-8. She shed 11-1 and not again until 5-8. Every time I come through the door I hope there will be babies, but the last 3 weeks she keeps getting bigger and bigger, much more noticeably than the last 3 months. She does things now like laying upside down, being more reclusive, not active at night and I can't tell if she is drinking. Last week she finally soaked (for over 24 hrs) and I thought the babies would be here in the next few days. It's been cloudy and raining for the last week (very unusual for here) and I just don't want to wait anymore because it's taken over my sanity. I am so excited. Do you guys/gals think it could be as long as end of June, first of July?

Hello Sunshine:
My experience is that once ovulation occurs the female will shed 17-18 days later (Hoggs) or 20-22 days later (Argentines, Surinams, Guyanas) without exception. Boas may breed right up to ovulation but may stop quite a bit before this event so you can't go by last breeding. You should have seen a shed the appropriate # of days after either of those ov dates but she apparently didn't so the situation is confusing.
Females give birth approx 130 days post ovulation, or 110 days after the post-ov shed, but this can vary somewhat. This has been my experience with approx 25 births.
By the way, ovulation day looks like you just fed the female the biggest meal she's ever eaten. Like if the biggest meal a female ever ate was a jumbo rat, well the ovulation looks like a rabbit swelling. It's really quite hard to miss but my snakes never got under their paper and I didn't use hide boxes. I do for ball pythons but never with boas.
Hope this helped. Good luck and let us know what you get! One other thing, make sure the female has access to temps up to about 90F. My gravid females usually liked to be about 86-87F.
Scott J. Michaels DVM

...going back and reading your post again, my guess is she ovulated around 4/17 and you won't see babies until about the end of august! SJM

Sunshine,
. Nearly all of my BRB litters have been born around 5 to 5.5 months after last observed breeding. Sometimes I see a recognizeable ovulation swell but usually not. Ovulation in BRBs is not nearly as noticeable as it is in Boa Constrictors. I keep track of all shedding dates and have found no relationship between shedding dates and parturition dates for any of the Rainbow Boa subspecies. I have even had them lay while opaque and they usually shed several times while gravid. Most of my gravid females refuse food for the entire time they are gravid but some eat small meals around midway through gestation. The behaviors you describe are all typical for gravid BRBs but I have a few each year that look and act gravid for the entire 5 to 5.5 months and then do not lay babies.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>I have a female brb that I think is gravid. Assuming that she is, with the last obseved breeding on 1-16-03. Do I figure the gestation from the last breeding I saw? I am new to this and may have observed ovulation on 11-16 and/or 12-22. She ate 12-29 and again 1-10, and has refused all 7 to 10 day interval feedings since then. The male has been eating regularly sine 2-8. She shed 11-1 and not again until 5-8. Every time I come through the door I hope there will be babies, but the last 3 weeks she keeps getting bigger and bigger, much more noticeably than the last 3 months. She does things now like laying upside down, being more reclusive, not active at night and I can't tell if she is drinking. Last week she finally soaked (for over 24 hrs) and I thought the babies would be here in the next few days. It's been cloudy and raining for the last week (very unusual for here) and I just don't want to wait anymore because it's taken over my sanity. I am so excited. Do you guys/gals think it could be as long as end of June, first of July?

Thanks again for so nicely responding to my panics/questions. You so non-judgementally answer my questions thoroughly....and never have told me to just look at your caresheet. I realize that the info is there. I suppose I just need some reassurance from time to time to know that everything is okay. I really do like my snakes, and get frustrated that information is so difficult to come by. It's been a little nerve-racking trying to keep everthing just right and I don't want to look back in hindsight and see too much that I did wrong. Surely, looking back, there will be things I could have done differently.....but that is true for life in general. I have kind of a exaggerated commitment to my animals some would say. Never have I got tired of one and "got rid of it" (I hate those words). Thank you for sharing your experience and I won't ask anything else that in already on the your caresheet! Linda

Linda:
Scratch my postings-I should have recognized brb being BRAZILIAN RAINBOW BOA but I thought it was a typo for boa constrictors. Typos are so prevalent in these forums that I just ignore them. Anyways, while I have bred BRB's once, I as well did NOT see the ovulation so I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about calculating times. Good luck. SJM

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Linda,
. This forum is about exchanging information. Ask as many questions as you can ever think of and keep records of what is happening with your snakes and you will be able to add to the pool of knowledge about breeding these snakes. I know it is very nerve wracking to have a snake that should be gravid and seems to be gravid but not to be able to tell for sure. We are a long way from having the perfect recipe for breeding Rainbow Boas and producing lots of babies every time.
Jeff

>>Thanks again for so nicely responding to my panics/questions. You so non-judgementally answer my questions thoroughly....and never have told me to just look at your caresheet. I realize that the info is there. I suppose I just need some reassurance from time to time to know that everything is okay. I really do like my snakes, and get frustrated that information is so difficult to come by. It's been a little nerve-racking trying to keep everthing just right and I don't want to look back in hindsight and see too much that I did wrong. Surely, looking back, there will be things I could have done differently.....but that is true for life in general. I have kind of a exaggerated commitment to my animals some would say. Never have I got tired of one and "got rid of it" (I hate those words). Thank you for sharing your experience and I won't ask anything else that in already on the your caresheet! Linda